ARCHÆOLOGY AND THE BIBLE
A Hillside Street in Roman Jerusalem along which
Jesus andthe Disciples may well have walked
(after Germer-Durand).—Frontispiece.
Green Fund Book, No. 17
ARCHÆOLOGY AND
THE BIBLE
BY
GEORGE A. BARTON, Ph. D., LL. D.
PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE AND SEMITIC LANGUAGES
IN BRYN MAWR COLLEGE; SOMETIME DIRECTOR OF THE
AMERICAN SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH IN JERUSALEM
PART I
THE BIBLE LANDS, THEIR EXPLORATION, AND THE RESULTANT
LIGHT ON THE BIBLE AND HISTORY
PART II
TRANSLATIONS OF ANCIENT DOCUMENTS WHICH CONFIRM OR
ILLUMINATE THE BIBLE
PHILADELPHIA
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION
1816 Chestnut Street
Copyright, 1916, by
American Sunday-School Union
All rights vested in and reserved by
American Sunday-School Union
First Edition, May, 1916.
Second Edition, June, 1917.
To
CAROLINE B. D. BARTON
Faithful Comrade in
the Campaign of Life
PREFACE
For a hundred years or more the explorer and the excavator have been busyin many parts of the world. They have brought to light monuments and textsthat have in many cases revolutionized our conceptions of history and havein other cases thrown much new light on what was previously known.
In no part of the world have these labors been more fruitful than in thelands of the Bible. In Egypt and Babylonia vistas of history have beenopened to view that were undreamed of before exploration began. The sameis true for that part of the history of Palestine which antedates thecoming of Israel. Information has also been obtained which illumines laterportions of the history, and makes the Biblical narrative seem much morevivid. It is now possible to make real to oneself the details of the lifeof the Biblical heroes, and to understand the problems of their world asformerly one could not do. Exploration has also brought to light manyinscriptions in the various countries that confirm or illuminate thetraditions, history, poetry, and prophecy of the Bible. The sands of Egypthave even yielded us some reputed new sayings of our Lord.
It is the purpose of this book to gather into one volume the most valuableinformation of all sorts that the excavations in Bible lands haveafforded, and to put it in such form that it may be of service to thepastor and Sunday-school teacher. An attempt has been made so to presentthe material that one may not only have the wealth of illumination forBiblical study that exploration has produced, but also that he may possessan outline of the history of the exploration and of the countriessufficient to enable him to place each item in its proper perspective.Whether in handling so large a mass of data the writer